Refrigerator having a shaved ice supplying device

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a refrigerator having a shaved ice supplying device which includes an ice shaver for pulverizing ice cubes supplied from an ice storing box into shaved ice, and with a passageway structure for distributing the ice. The refrigerator comprises an ice supplying device to supply ice cubes, an ice shaver to pulverize the ice cubes, supplied from the ice supplying device, into shaved ice, and a dispenser adapted to allow the ice cubes supplied from the ice supplying device to be directly dispensed while allowing the shaved ice pulverized by the ice shaver to be dispensed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No.2004-75997, filed on Sep. 22, 2004 in the Korean Intellectual PropertyOffice, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator equipped with a shavedice supplying device, and, more particularly, to a refrigerator, whichis provided with an ice shaver to pulverize ice cubes supplied from anice storing box to shaved ice, and with a passageway structure fordistributing the ice.

2. Description of the Related Art

Recently, according to an increase of demand for large-sizedrefrigerators, side-by-side refrigerators have been actively developedto meet this demand.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional side-by-side refrigerator comprisesa cabinet 1 defining at least one storage chamber therein, and doors 2and 3 hinged at one side of the doors to front sides of the cabinet,respectively, to open or close the storage chambers. The interior of thecabinet 1 is partitioned into two storage chambers (i.e., a left sidestorage chamber and a right side storage chamber), by means of avertical partition wall. Generally, the left side storage chamber servesas a freezing compartment, and the right side storage chamber serves asa refrigerating compartment.

The left side door 2 to open or close the freezing compartment isprovided, at the front side thereof, with a dispenser 4 adapted toprovide ice or water without opening the door 2, and the right side door3 to open or close the refrigerating compartment is provided, at thefront side thereof, with a home-bar 5 adapted to provide a beveragecontainer and the like without opening the door 3.

The ice supplied from the dispenser 4 is of a cubic shape, and isdirectly supplied from an ice tray. Accordingly, there is aninconvenience in that, in order to make shaved ice and ice beveragesusing such ice cubes, the ice cubes must be pulverized by means of anadditional ice shaver.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention is to provide arefrigerator including a shaved ice supplying device, and an icedistributing structure in order to supply various shapes of iceaccording to needs of a user.

Additional aspects and/or advantages of the invention will be set forthin part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obviousfrom the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

The foregoing and/or other aspects are achieved by providing arefrigerator including an ice supplying device to supply ice cubes, anice shaver to pulverize the ice cubes, supplied from the ice supplyingdevice, into shaved ice, and a dispenser adapted to allow the ice cubessupplied from the ice supplying device to be directly dispensed whileallowing the shaved ice pulverized by the ice shaver to be dispensed.

The dispenser may include an ice cube dispensing part to allow the icecubes to be dispensed, and a shaved ice dispensing part to allow theshaved ice to be dispensed, wherein the ice cube dispensing part and theshaved ice dispensing part are separately provided in the dispenser.

The refrigerator may further include an ice feeding passageway branchedsuch that the ice supplied from the ice supplying device is selectivelysupplied to the ice cube dispensing part and the shaved ice dispensingpart through the ice feeding passageway.

The ice feeding passageway may include an ice cube passageway to guidethe ice to the ice cube dispensing part, a shaved ice passageway toguide the ice to the shaved ice dispensing part, and apassageway-changing member provided at a branch point in the ice feedingpassageway to selectively open or close the ice cube passageway and theshaved ice passageway at the branch point.

The refrigerator may further include a motor to drive thepassageway-changing member.

The ice shaver may be positioned in the shaved ice passageway.

The ice shaver may include a housing equipped with a cutter to pulverizethe ice, and a feeding part to feed the ice to the cutter.

The feeding part may include a rotor rotatably positioned in the housingand having at least one spiral-shaped plate, and a motor to drive therotor.

It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a refrigeratorincluding a cabinet to define at least one storage chamber therein, anice supplying device provided to the storage chamber to supply icecubes, at least one door to open or close the storage chamber, adispenser provided to an outer surface of the door to allow ice to bedispensed, and an ice shaver to pulverize the ice cubes supplied fromthe ice supplying device to shaved ice.

The dispenser may include an ice cube dispensing part to allow the icecubes to be dispensed, and a shaved ice dispensing part to allow theshaved ice to be dispensed, wherein the ice cube dispensing part and theshaved ice dispensing part being separately provided in the dispenser,and the door may be provided with an ice feeding passageway branchedsuch that the ice supplied from the ice supplying device is selectivelysupplied to the ice cube dispensing part and the shaved ice dispensingpart.

The ice feeding passageway may include an ice cube passageway to guidethe ice to the ice cube dispensing part, and a shaved ice passageway toguide the ice to the shaved ice dispensing part, wherein the ice shavermay be positioned in the shaved ice passageway.

The ice feeding passageway may include a passageway-changing memberpositioned at a branch point in the ice feeding passageway, toselectively open or close the ice cube passageway and the shaved icepassageway.

The refrigerator may further include a motor to drive thepassageway-changing member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofthe embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating an appearance of aconventional side-by-side refrigerator;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional elevation illustrating an interior of arefrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view illustrating main components of therefrigerator of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the part A of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view illustrating an ice shaver of therefrigerator of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elementsthroughout the drawings. The embodiments are described below to explainthe present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional elevation illustrating the interior of arefrigerator according to an embodiment of the present invention, andFIG. 3 is a front sectional view illustrating a main component of therefrigerator of FIG. 2.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, a refrigerator according to an embodiment of thepresent invention includes a cabinet 11 defining at least one storagechamber 10 therein, and at least one door 12 hinged to a front side ofthe cabinet to open or close the storage chamber 10. The cabinet 11 andthe door 12 are made of a thermally insulated wall to shield heattransfer from the outside.

The storage chamber 10 includes a plurality of shelves 13 to locate foodcontainers and the like thereon, and having a plurality of drawers 14 tostore vegetables, fruits, and the like therein. The storage chamber 10includes an evaporator 15 at a rear side of an upper portion thereof, asa component of a typical cooling cycle to cool the storage chamber 10.The door 12 is provided, at an inside surface thereof facing the storagechamber 10, and includes a plurality of door guards 16 to place beveragecans or bottles therein.

A machinery chamber 17 is formed at a rear side of a lower portion ofthe cabinet 11 to operate the refrigerator, and includes a compressor 18as a component of the typical cooling cycle necessary to operate therefrigerator.

The door 12 is provided at an outer surface thereof with a dispenser 20,which allows ice to be easily dispensed without opening the door 12. Anice supplying device 30 is provided at an upper portion of the storagechamber 10, and supplies the ice to the dispenser 30.

The ice chamber 30 includes an ice tray 31 to freeze water into icehaving a predetermined size and shape, a water supplying pipe 32 tosupply water to the ice tray 31, an ice storing box 33 located below theice tray 31 to store ice cubes frozen in the ice tray 31, aspiral-shaped feeding spring 34 to feed the ice from the ice storing box33 to the dispenser 20 of the door 12, and a motor 35 to drive thefeeding spring 34. The front end of the ice storing box 33 is openeddownwardly to form an ice exit 33 a, through which the ice is suppliedto the dispenser 20.

The dispenser 20 includes an ice cube dispensing part 21 to allow theice cubes supplied from the ice supplying device 30 to be directlydispensed, and a shaved ice dispensing part 22 to allow shaved ice to bedispensed after pulverizing the ice cubes supplied from the icesupplying device 30 to the shaved ice. The ice cube dispensing part 21and the shaved ice dispensing part 22 are operating levers, which aresubjected to an operation for drawing out the ice.

An ice feeding passageway 23 is formed in the door 12 from a portionbelow the ice exit 33 a of the ice supplying device 30, and branchedinto the ice cube dispensing part 21 and the shaved ice dispensing part22 therein. The ice feeding passageway 23 consists of an ice cubepassageway 23 a connected to the ice cube dispensing part 21, and ashaved ice passageway 23 b connected to the shaved ice dispensing part22.

A passageway-changing member 24 is positioned at a branch point in theice feeding passageway 23 to selectively guide the ice supplied from theice supplying device 30 to the ice cube passageway 23 a or to the shavedice passageway 23 b. The passageway-changing member 24 is hingablypositioned in the ice feeding passageway 23 with one side thereof actingas a rotational shaft. When the passageway-changing member 24 ispositioned at the location “a” of FIG. 3, the ice cube passageway 23 ais closed while the shaved ice passageway 23 b is opened, and when thepassageway-changing member 24 is positioned at the location “b” of FIG.3, the ice cube passageway 23 a is opened while the shaved icepassageway 23 b is closed. In FIG. 4, a driving shaft of a motor 25 fordriving the passageway-changing member 24 is connected to one end of therotational shaft of the passageway-changing member 24.

An ice shaver 40 is positioned on the shaved ice passageway 23 b topulverize the ice cubes supplied from the ice supplying device 30 intoshaved ice.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the construction of the ice shaver 40 willnow be described as follows. The ice shaver 40 is embedded in the door12, and includes a cup-shaped housing 41 having a convex bottom, a rotor42 rotatably positioned within the housing 41, and a motor 43 to drivethe rotor 42.

The housing 41 is opened at an upper portion thereof such that the rotor42 can be inserted thereto, and provided at the center thereof with acylindrical rotational shaft 41 b extending from the bottom 41 a of thehousing 41. A slit 41 c is radially formed on the bottom 41 a of thehousing 41 to discharge the pulverized shaved ice, and is connected atone side thereof to a cutter 41 d for pulverizing the ice. A guide 41 ehaving a predetermined length is formed below the slit 41 c to guide theshaved ice provided into the slit 41 c to the shaved ice dispensing part22.

The rotor 42 is positioned in the housing 41 to be rotated therein. Therotor 42 includes a central portion 42 a having a bore formed therein toallow the rotational shaft 41 b of the housing 41 to be inserted intothe bore, a cylindrical surrounding portion 42 b spaced a predetermineddistance from the central portion 42 a, and a spiral-shaped intermediateplate 42 c provided between the central portion 42 a and the surroundingportion 42 b. When the rotor 42 is rotated in the direction of thearrow, the intermediate plate 42 c serves to feed the ice cubes towardthe cutter 41 d while compressing the ice cubes against the bottom 41 aof the housing 41. As a result, the ice cubes is pulverized into theshaved ice by the cutter 41 d fixed to the bottom 41 a of the housing41, and is then discharged to the slit 41 c as the pulverized ice.

A predetermined gear 42 d is formed around an outer peripheral surfaceat an upper portion of the surrounding portion 42 b of the rotor 42, andis engaged with a pinion 44 rotated by a driving motor 43.

Operation for obtaining the ice from the refrigerator according to oneembodiment of the present invention will now be described.

When a user wants to obtain ice cubes from the dispenser 20 of therefrigerator, the ice cube dispensing part 21 is pushed by means of acontainer, such as a cup, and then the motor 35 of the ice supplyingdevice 35 is operated to allow the ice cubes to be discharged from theice storing box 33 through the ice exit 33 a. The ice cubes dischargedthrough the ice exit 33 a is dropped into the ice feeding passageway 23.The passageway-changing member 24 provided at the branch point in theice feeding passageway 23 is converted to the location b of FIG. 3, andthe ice cubes discharged through the ice exit 33 a passes through theice cube passageway 23 a, and is then supplied to the dispenser 20.

When the user wants to obtain shaved ice from the dispenser 20 of therefrigerator, the shaved ice dispensing part 22 is operated. Similar tothe case of obtaining the ice cubes from the refrigerator, the motor 35of the ice supplying device 35 is operated to allow the ice cubes to bedischarged from the ice storing box 33 through the ice exit 33 a. Thepassageway-changing member 24 is driven by the motor 25, and isconverted to the location a of FIG. 3, where the ice cube passageway 33a is closed while the shaved ice passageway 23 b is opened, therebyallowing the ice to be fed to the ice shaver 40. In the ice shaver 40,the rotor 42 driven by the motor 43 moves the ice cubes dropped into therotor 42 downward. Then, the ice cubes moved downward is pulverized intoshaved ice by means of the cutter 41 d while being rotated on the bottom41 a of the housing 41 in a state of being compressed by the rotor 42.The shaved ice is discharged to the slit 41 c, and is then supplied tothe dispenser 20.

As apparent from above description, according to the present invention,there is an advantageous effect in that, as the refrigerator is providedwith the ice shaver for supplying shaved ice, and the ice distributingstructure for dispensing the ice, various shapes of ice can be suppliedaccording to needs of the user.

Although a few embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art thatchanges may be made in these embodiments without departing from theprinciples and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined inthe claims and their equivalents.

1. A refrigerator, comprising: an ice supplying device to supply icecubes; an ice shaver to pulverize the ice cubes, supplied from the icesupplying device, into shaved ice; and a dispenser adapted to allow theice cubes supplied from the ice supplying device to be directlydispensed while allowing the shaved ice pulverized by the ice shaver tobe dispensed.
 2. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein thedispenser comprises: an ice cube dispensing part to allow the ice cubesto be dispensed; and a shaved ice dispensing part to allow the shavedice to be dispensed, wherein the ice cube dispensing part and the shavedice dispensing part are separately provided in the dispenser.
 3. Therefrigerator according to claim 2, further comprising: an ice feedingpassageway branched such that the ice supplied from the ice supplyingdevice is selectively supplied to the ice cube dispensing part and theshaved ice dispensing part through the ice feeding passageway.
 4. Therefrigerator according to claim 3, wherein the ice feeding passagewaycomprises: an ice cube passageway to guide the ice to the ice cubedispensing part; a shaved ice passageway to guide the ice to the shavedice dispensing part; and a passageway-changing member provided at abranch point in the ice feeding passageway to selectively open or closethe ice cube passageway and the shaved ice passageway at the branchpoint.
 5. The refrigerator according to claim 4, further comprising amotor to drive the passageway-changing member.
 6. The refrigeratoraccording to claim 4, wherein the ice shaver is positioned in the shavedice passageway.
 7. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein theice shaver comprises: a housing having a cutter therein to pulverize theice; and a feeding part to feed the ice to the cutter.
 8. Therefrigerator according to claim 7, wherein the feeding part comprises arotor rotatably positioned in the housing and having at least onespiral-shaped plate, and a motor to drive the rotor.
 9. A refrigerator,comprising: a cabinet to define at least one storage chamber therein; anice supplying device provided to the storage chamber to supply icecubes; at least one door to open or close the storage chamber; adispenser provided to an outer surface of the door to allow the ice tobe dispensed; and an ice shaver positioned in the door to pulverize theice cubes supplied from the ice supplying device into shaved ice. 10.The refrigerator according to claim 9, wherein the dispenser comprises:an ice cube dispensing part to allow the ice cubes to be dispensed; anda shaved ice dispensing part to allow the shaved ice to be dispensed,wherein the ice cube dispensing part and the shaved ice dispensing partare separately provided in the dispenser, and the door comprises an icefeeding passageway branched such that the ice supplied from the icesupplying device is selectively supplied to the ice cube dispensing partand the shaved ice dispensing part.
 11. The refrigerator according toclaim 10, wherein the ice feeding passageway comprises: an ice cubepassageway to guide the ice to the ice cube dispensing part; and ashaved ice passageway to guide the ice to the shaved ice dispensing partwherein the ice shaver is positioned in the shaved ice passageway. 12.The refrigerator according to claim 11, wherein the ice feedingpassageway further comprises: a passageway-changing member provided at abranch point in the ice feeding passageway to selectively open or closethe ice cube passageway and the shaved ice passageway.
 13. Therefrigerator according to claim 12, further comprising a motor to drivethe passageway-changing member.
 14. A refrigerator comprising: a door toopen and close the refrigerator, the door comprising: an ice dispenserto selectively supply ice cubes and shaved ice; an ice cube passagewayand a shaved ice passageway to separately feed the ice cubes and theshaved ice to the ice dispenser; and an ice shaver positioned in theshaved ice passageway to crush the ice when shaved ice is to be suppliedfrom the ice dispenser.
 15. The refrigerator of claim 14, wherein theice dispenser comprises: an ice cube dispensing part to supply the icecubes; and a shaved ice dispensing part to supply the shaved ice. 16.The refrigerator of claim 14, further comprises: a passageway-changingmember provided at a branch point within the door, to selectively openand close the ice cube passageway and the shaved ice passageway.
 17. Therefrigerator of claim 16, further comprising a motor to drive thepassageway-changing member.